I'm a grounds director in the middle of Kansas and have inherited 5(5-12 zones each) systems that are exclusively Toro Super 800's, Toro Mini 8's, Toro 570Z w/ TVAN(for the most part), P-220 valves, and TMC-424 clocks. I'm happy with the clocks and valves, but the heads do not hold up to the foot and cart traffic this campus gets. The heads are all highly prone to locking up and getting clipped off (by foot, blade, or wheel) even weeks after installation. Unfortunately most of our sidewalks are only 4 feet and are poorly designed to handle traffic without wearing the edges, but we have been going through replacing sidewalks at least up to 6 feet.

I am in no way looking for "the final word" on what I'm going to choose, but I'm curious to hear personal experiences with heads or series you've been impressed with where they take a beating.

Up until this point I have been asked by the school to stay with the product lines we were already using, however we recently have undertook at large construction project. In that project, we'll be tearing up the old system and expanding to cover at least 3 to 4 times the area.

I've been given the greenlight to start changing what we use on campus, but I'm tired of pouring over spec sheets and listening to salesmen. I want real world verification.

Any facility managers or companies that manage larger property like a college campus that could weigh in?